Methods of Writing Instruction
Chapter Seven
I. The Basic Building Blocks of Writing
II. Instructional Contexts Along a Continuum of Teacher Directedness
III. The Writing Process: Pre-Writing, Drafting, Revising, Editing, and Publishing
Although we have artificially separated reading and writing instruction to clearly explain them both, we
must start this chapter by reiterating that reading and writing are inextricably intertwined skills and
processes. We cannot and should not separate the teaching of reading from the teaching of writing. As
you will see, the component skills of reading and writing are most effectively taught in connection with
one other. In fact, students achieve the greatest academic gains when their teachers effectively harness
the synergy of the reading-writing partnership. As Marilyn Jager Adams notes, “Children’s achievements
in reading and writing are quite strongly and positively related… an emphasis on writing activities results
in gains in reading achievement.”161
Chapter Overview
We will approach the subject of writing instruction from three, overlapping angles:
Part I—The Basic Building Blocks of Writing
First, we will examine the basic building blocks of writing, such as spelling, grammar, and handwriting.
Students become effective writers more quickly when we teach these fundamental mechanics explicitly
and then ask students to put the building blocks into practice by writing with varying levels of teacher
support.
Part II—Instructional Contexts Along a Continuum of Teacher Directedness
In Part II, we will explore a series of the most effective instructional contexts for writing that fall along a
broad continuum of teacher-directedness. As you recall, a fundamental tenet of excellent literacy
instruction is that the teacher leads students toward independence as active readers and writers by
providing increasingly less guidance and support over time. While most of us will teach in ways that fall
on several places on this continuum on any given day, as a general matter, successful teachers of writing
are those that lead their students toward self-reliance in the writing process. To that end, we will survey
five contexts in which to teach writing—Modeled Writing, Shared Writing, Interactive Writing, Guided
Writing, and Independent Writing—each method more student-driven than the last.
Part III—The Writing Process: Pre-Writing, Drafting, Revising, Editing, and Publishing
In order for students to write independently, they need to know and be able to use the five-step writing
process: pre-writing, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. In Part III of this chapter, we will consider
the writing process itself, looking closely at techniques teachers use to teach the its five steps. Of course,
this framework is not meant to be an alternative to (and is not in tension with) the various methods
discussed in Part II. In fact, all of the stages of the writing process can be taught through Modeled,
Shared, Interactive, Guided, and Independent Writing.
Adams, Marilyn Jager. Beginning to Read: Thinking and Learning about Print. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1990, p.
375.
161
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Methods of Writing Instruction
I. The Basic Building Blocks of Writing
Reading and writing are complex, interrelated processes. To read, we break apart a string of letters,
decide which sounds those letters represent, and put the sounds back together to determine the word. To
spell, we translate the sounds that we hear in speech into written letters. In this way, reading and
spelling are opposite but related activities. For this reason, much of the information gleaned in Chapter
Three, “The Building Blocks of Literacy,” will be useful as you guide your students toward writing
proficiency. In this section, we will consider some guidelines for teaching spelling, grammar, and
handwriting.
Invented and Conventional Spelling
Children proceed through a relatively predictable set of sequential stages in learning to write. They first
scribble, and then make linear, repetitive drawings that might resemble cursive in English. Children in
this emergent stage may use a few very familiar letters, primarily those contained in their names, to spell
all words (you might be surprised that four-year old Dominic would
write MDNC for float). Next, children begin to write letters that
Spelling and Handwriting?
represent beginning and ending sounds in words (writing ft for
“Adults may wince at painful
float), and progress to include some consonant blends and vowels childhood memories of penmanship
(flot for float). As they understand more of the patterns that
lessons and spelling tests. A small
influence spelling, children will be able to spell most single syllable but growing number of studies,
words with phonetic accuracy (flote for float) but will have difficulty
though, suggest that systematically
teaching handwriting and spelling
spelling across syllables (confedent for confident). In the final
might actually help some students
stage, children are able to spell most words correctly, though they
write more and do it better.”162
may make small errors in the spelling of words containing silent
letters or those derived from other languages (inditement for
indictment).163
As children are motivated to write, their interest in communicating inevitably outpaces their knowledge of
proper spelling. If we accept that students’ interest in communicating should take precedence over
correct spelling, we are able to ensure that students’ interest in communicating does not outpace their
ability to write. We simply have to allow young children to “write” in less conventional ways.
Kindergarten through second grade teachers in particular should keep in mind that “invented spelling” is
a critical part of the literacy developmental process. Children who are using invented spelling are
demonstrating that they are concentrating on the sound/symbol relationship and then trying to encode it
themselves. At first this process doesn’t reflect all the patterns that apply to a language (mostly because
the student simply hasn’t learned them all yet), so a teacher may see many words that are conventionally
misspelled, but still reflect a growing knowledge of the sound/symbol relationship.
chrane  train
dwg  dog
fesh  fish
n  and
There is some controversy about when the transition from invented to conventional spelling should occur.
Different students will reach the stage where they are consistently using conventional spelling at
different times. Usually by upper elementary, students should not be encouraged to use invented
spelling, but rather to use resources to find the correct or standard spelling of words.
Viadero, Debra. “Studies Back Lessons in Writing, Spelling.” Educational Leadership, November 20, 2002.
Bear, Donald R. et al. Words Their Way: Words Study for Phonics, Vocabulary, and Spelling Instruction, 3rd Edition.
New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2004, pp. 11-20.
162
163
126
The bottom line is that invented spelling should be
encouraged when it signals that students are using their
knowledge of sound-symbol correspondences to reach
beyond the spelling patterns they have been taught. We
do not want inability to spell a word to stop students from
writing. However, conventional spelling is the ultimate
goal, and students should be held responsible for spelling
words and word patterns that they have been taught.
No matter what grade, no matter what level, kids
will ask you how to spell whichever word they
want to use. Teach them spelling strategies
(including to just sound it out if they don’t have
any clue), and then let them make mistakes. If
you don’t, they’ll never become independent
writers. Then you can use those mistakes that
they make to guide your instruction to spelling
objectives that they need help with.
Guidelines for Teaching Spelling
All students benefit from systematic spelling instruction
Shannon Dingle, RGV ‘03
and practice, and students who are experiencing difficulty
in spelling need intensive instruction and practice tailored to match their individual levels of word knowledge.
Strategically select spelling words. Depending on your school’s curriculum, you may be handed lists of
words that students must learn to spell each week that connect with the broader curriculum. If not, be
sure that you select words that include the spelling patterns that you have taught and include words from
the curriculum or other content areas. Always begin the year with more frequently used and regular
word patterns before moving to less frequently used and less regular patterns.
Here are some other general guidelines for spelling instruction:

Review frequently. Improving students’ spelling accuracy requires that you review previously
taught material often. For example, if you are teaching your first graders the vowel consonant e
spelling pattern, you will ask them to spell words that contain that pattern and some soundspelling relationships that they learned earlier in the year. When they blend and write kite, they’ll
be forced to consider why the /k/ sound is spelled with a k and not a c. Revisiting spelling
patterns often keeps them fresh in students’ minds. For the same reason, it is also useful to
provide students with opportunities to analyze and sort words into categories to focus students’
attention on the spelling and letter patterns that they have already learned.

Limit the number of words in one lesson. Expect that students will need to read and work
with words many times before they are able to spell them. To give enough practice with each
word, do not make your lists too long.

Teach students the process of monitoring and checking their spelling. Ask students to
double-check their work for spelling and maintain high expectations for correct spelling of
previously taught words.

Differentiate spelling instruction. For students who experience spelling difficulty, provide
individual or small group instruction to help them hear the sounds in words and connect
those sounds to letters. With a small group of students, you might model how to stretch out
a word and segment it into individual sounds, then use spelling cards or phonics charts to
prompt students for the correct spelling of those sounds. Students with audioprocessing
disorders will struggle to hear the component sounds in a word, so remind them to pay
attention to their mouths as they say the word slowly.
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Methods of Writing Instruction

Provide immediate feedback. As students transition from inventive to conventional spelling,
be swift and consistent with correcting the spelling of the words that you have already taught.
Do not let students reinforce errors once the word has been taught.

Connect it to their writing. Especially in the upper elementary classroom, drawing a portion
of their spelling words from trends you see in their writing can be very effective and relevant
for them. Older students could even choose some of their own spelling words by scanning
their portfolio for words with which they have trouble.

Don’t carry spelling instruction over into their free writing or drafting. This may only
disrupt the flow of their writing and put undo pressure on them at a time when they should be
concentrating on ideas.

Teach students to spell high frequency words correctly. As mentioned previously, the 100
most common words make up about 50 percent of the material we read. Thus, we can
significantly improve our students’ literacy skills if we teach them to read and spell these
words automatically. So, how does one teach these sight words? In a word, practice. You
simply have to arrange for students to have many, many encounters with these words, both
directly (flashcards, word walls) and indirectly (reading).
One well-established list of these “sight words” from which
teachers might work, is the “Fry list” that we discussed in Chapter
Three. You may find it beneficial to peruse those lists now and
return to them in your classroom so that you can teach them to
your students along-side spelling words. To examine the list, see
“Fry’s 300 Instant Sight Words” in the Elementary Literacy Toolkit
(pp. 34-35) found online at the Resource Exchange on TFANet. 
Letter Formation and Handwriting
Most literacy specialists recommend that
lower elementary students have formal
letter formation instruction as part of
their daily routine, even if it is a relatively
short exercise. Students, especially very
young students, need the opportunity to
think about their writing free of concern
for content in order focus attention on
improving handwriting skills.
Most
curricula will have a particular method of
teaching letter formation and handwriting.
Grammar and Mechanics
Research continues to suggest that teaching students to use
correct grammar in spoken and written language improves
their literacy skills substantially. While you may not be
teaching your Kindergarteners the parts of speech, you are—as
part of your strategies to enhance students’ print awareness—modeling, teaching and reinforcing lessons
about
capitalization,
punctuation,
and
other
fundamental mechanics of the writing process.
One book that was particularly engaging for my
students was Punctuation Takes a Vacation. Our
Younger students need to be taught when and how to
class was learning about punctuation in
leave space between sentences, for example. Older
Communication Arts. All of my students also had
students need practice with more complicated
punctuation as an IEP goal. After conducting a
mechanics such as paragraph structure. As students
thorough, interactive read aloud (on three
mature and develop the capacity to think about the
occasions), and creating several independent
various parts of speech in their writing, the mechanics
learning stations based on the material in the book,
lessons can become more complex. While it would
all of my students mastered punctuation. They met
certainly be unwise to completely divorce these
their IEP goals within a fraction of the time allotted.
mechanics lessons from the real writing that students
Allyson Jasper, St. Louis ‘03
are doing, most teachers find that regular “miniManager, Corporate Relations,
lessons” on subjects such as capitalization,
American Academy of Family Physicians
punctuation, or subject-verb agreement are an
important means of learning the basic conventions of
writing. Teachers will often connect a given mini-lesson to a subsequent writing project to allow students
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to focus on the mechanics or grammar point in their writing. To plan your grammar and language
mechanics instruction, consider the following grade-level benchmarks, from the Mid-continent Research
for Education and Learning:164
Level I (Kindergarten-Second Grades)
Language Arts Benchmarks








Uses conventions of print in writing (e.g.,
forms letters in print, uses upper- and
lowercase letters of the alphabet; spaces
words and sentences; writes from left-towrite and top-to-bottom; includes margins)
Uses complete sentences in written
compositions
Uses nouns in written compositions (e.g.,
nouns for simple objects, family members,
community workers, and categories)
Uses verbs in written compositions (e.g.,
verbs for a variety of situations, action
words)
Uses adjectives in written compositions (i.e.,
uses descriptive words)
Uses adverbs in written compositions (e.g.,
uses words that answer how, when, where,
and why questions)
Uses conventions of capitalization in
written compositions (e.g., first and last
names, first word of a sentence)
Uses conventions of punctuation in written
compositions (e.g., uses periods after
declarative sentences, question marks after
interrogative sentences, uses commas in a
series of words)
Level II (Third-Fifth Grades) Language Arts Benchmarks










Writes in cursive
Uses pronouns in written compositions (e.g., substitutes
pronouns for nouns, uses pronoun agreement)
Uses nouns in written compositions (e.g., uses plural and
singular forms of naming nouns, forms regular and
irregular plural nouns, uses common and proper nouns,
uses nouns as subjects)
Uses verbs in written compositions (e.g., uses a wide
variety of action verbs, past and present verb tenses,
forms of regular verbs, berns that agree with the subject)
Uses adjectives in written compositions (i.e., indefitine,
numerical, predicate adjectives)
Uses adverbs in written compositions (e.g., to make
comparisons)
Uses coordinating conjunctions in written compositions
(e.g., links ideas using connecting ideas)
Uses negatives in written compositions (e.g., avoids
double negatives)
Uses conventions of capitalization in written
compositions (e.g., titles of people; proper nouns [names
of towns, cities, counties, and states; days of the week;
months of the year; names of streets; names of
countries, holidays]; first word of direct quotations;
heading, salutation, and closing of a letter)
Uses conventions of punctuation in written compositions
(e.g., uses periods after imperative sentences and in
initials, abbreviations, and titles before names; uses
commas in dates and addresses and after greetings and
closings in a letter; uses apostrophes in contractions and
possessive nouns; uses quotation marks around titles
and with direct quotations; uses a colon between hour
and minute)
II. Instructional Contexts Along a Continuum of Teacher Directedness
Spelling, grammar, and mechanics make up the building blocks of writing, much the same way
phonemes, graphemes, and morphemes are the building blocks of reading, and dribbling, passing, and
shooting are the building blocks of playing basketball. So when it comes time for students to put those
building block skills to work in an actual “game” situation, you will move students through a continuum of
instructional contexts that can be classified according to a gradual shift from teacher-driven writing to
student-driven writing. Keeping in mind that (1) independent writing is the ultimate goal and (2) the path
along this line for a class of students is anything but linear (as a teacher might use all of the methods in
any given day), consider the following graphic representation of this continuum:
164
http://www.mcrel.org/compendium/standardDetails.asp?subjectID=7&standardID=3, accessed 7/10/2010.
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Methods of Writing Instruction
Models of Writing
Instruction
Degree of Student Direction
Modeled—Shared—Interactive—Guided—Independent
Degree of Teacher Direction
We will consider each of these five methods in turn.
Modeled Writing—teacher creates, writes, and thinks aloud
Under the modeled writing method, the most teacher-directed approach, the teacher writes in front of
the students, creating the text, and controlling the pen. Even more importantly, the teacher constantly
“thinks aloud” about writing strategies and skills.
This approach allows students to hear the thinking that accompanies the process of writing. Those
thoughts may address choosing a topic, organizing your ideas, using a plan to write your rough draft,
removing repetitive information, or proofreading to fix grammar or spelling mistakes, to name just a few.
For beginning writers who are just developing familiarity with basic book and print awareness, the
modeling teacher might think aloud in the following way:
Let’s see. First, I have to figure out where to start. Do I write from the top going down or
from the bottom going up? I know that I write from the top going down. Now, do I write
from left to right [as teacher makes motion across chalkboard from left to right], or do I
write from right to left? [analogous motion] I know that when I read books, like The Very
Hungry Caterpillar that we read this morning, I read from this side to this side, so I am
going to write from left to right as well . . .
For slightly older students, the thinking aloud might sound more like:
OK. I’ve written in my notebook about the special Wednesday night dinners that my dad
and I had when I was little—our dinner dates. My ideas are really good but they don’t
sound like a story yet. I need to make a plan to help me write a story that other people
will enjoy reading. Hmm… Oh! Now I’m remembering how we read one of Jerdine Nolen’s
stories from In My Momma’s Kitchen. I’m thinking that one thing she did to make us
really love her story was to have everything that happened build up to one really funny
moment. Remember how we all laughed when Daddy sang ‘La Cucaracha’ as his corn
pudding cooked? We called that the ‘hot spot’ in her story, and everything else led us to
that point—the funniest part of all! I think that when I make the plan for my story, I’m
going to tell what happened during our dinner dates and then, at the very end, I’ll share
the best moment of all. My hot spot needs to be something really funny that happened
during one of the dinners, something that will make you all laugh when you read it. Oh, I
see some of you are remembering something funny from my writer’s notebook, and it
looks like you have suggestions for what my hot spot should be… Good idea, guys! I think
I’ll write my story so that all of the events lead up to my dad spilling spaghetti all over his
tie and the waiter bringing him a bib! That’s a perfect hot spot.
130
Thus, by talking aloud about your literacy objectives as you complete the writing, you build your students’
skills, habits, and understanding of a writer’s thought process. As the “modeling teacher,” your role in
this approach as you think aloud is to:
 Use expressive language and actions to model critical writing-process concepts
 Think aloud about actions and choices in writing
 Show students the metacognitive strategies involved in reading and writing
 Use modeled writing as a mini-lesson to introduce new writing skills and genres
 Demonstrate the importance of composing a meaningful, coherent message for a particular
audience and a specific purpose
 Demonstrate the correct use of print conventions such as capitalization, punctuation, and
print directionality
 Demonstrate spelling strategies
 Connect spelling to phonics lessons
 Demonstrate re-reading as a process to help students to remember what they are writing
about
During Modeled Writing, students are listening and watching, with the explicit expectation that they will
be using these strategies on their own at some point soon. Although a standard Modeled Writing lesson
will not last more than 15 minutes, this approach is appropriate for any type of grouping strategy,
including whole class instruction. Many teachers use Modeled Writing exercises each time they
introduce a new writing skill or genre and then transition to the more student-involved approaches
explained below.
Shared Writing—teacher and students co-create; teacher writes and thinks aloud
Shared writing also has the teacher control the pen, but invites the teacher and the students to create the
ideas for the text together. That is, the students and teacher plan out the writing and then the teacher
actually scripts the words. Like in Modeled Writing, it is important that the teacher engage the students
by thinking aloud about the processes that are happening as he or she writes. And, of course, the teacher
may involve students in other ways as well, such as asking them to spell certain words or to decide when
a new paragraph should begin.
This approach effectively reinforces the concepts of print, as the students’ thoughts are transformed to
written language as they watch. In addition to the process-related issues about which teachers might
think aloud during modeled writing, the teacher in a shared writing session may think aloud and talk to
the students more about the content of the writing. Thus, the role of the teacher in Shared Writing is to:
 Introduce the lesson or topic by modeling how to begin writing
 Plan the text and help students generate ideas for writing
 Record students’ ideas
 Reinforce print conventions such as capitalization, punctuation, and print directionality
The student, meanwhile, is contributing ideas to the writing and will read and reread the composition with
the teacher. This strategy is also useful for whole group or small group instruction.
Interactive Writing—teacher and students co-create and co-write
For Kindergarten and first grade students, one of the most educationally fruitful learning models is
interactive writing. This approach brings the students into the writing process to create products that are
well beyond the level of anything they could create on their own. The teacher and students share the pen
(or chalk or marker) to do the writing. The teacher plays an active role in monitoring and guiding the
process, talking students through various writing conventions that the group encounters while they write.
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Methods of Writing Instruction
The purposes of this approach are many. By having a two-way conversation around the creation of words,
sentences, or paragraphs, teachers can negotiate the content of the text, construct words through the
analysis of sound, and develop concepts of letter, word, and punctuation. Moreover, teachers are able to
lead students to increase and reinforce letter knowledge, and gain familiarity with some frequently
encountered words.
Consider the following play-by-play account of an interactive writing activity in a Kindergarten class:
Interactive Writing in Action
The following is a play-by-play description of an Interactive Writing session in the Kindergarten class of Heather
Thompson (Rio Grande Valley ’97) on January 29, 2003. This process took about 8 minutes.
We come back from the park and sit down to write in our class park journal. First, we reread our entries from
previous days. Then, I ask students to think about something they saw or did at the park today. Several hands
shoot up.
Ricky: We saw two dogs!
Vidal: A little dog and a big dog.
Tyler: There was two little dogs.
(An argument ensues about how many dogs there were. Finally it is decided that there were three.)
Teacher: OK, so we’re going to write, wait, let me write the date first. [Writes and reads, “January 29, 2003.”] OK,
we’re going to write, “We saw three dogs.” How many words is that?
We….saw…three…dogs. [Teacher puts a dot on the paper to indicate each word.]
Evelyn: Four words.
Teacher: What do we need to put to start the word “we”?
(Various students chime in with the /w/ sound, some also say the name of the letter.)
Teacher: That’s right! Christina, would you like to come write a capital “w” to start our sentence?
(The teacher similarly elicits the second sound of “we” from the students, and then discusses leaving a space
between the words. Albert comes up to write the first sound of “saw” and writes the “s” backwards.)
Teacher: Oops.
Several students: Backwards!
Teacher: That’s OK. Let’s cover it up with correction tape and try again.
Albert: How, like this? (Writes s in the air, then on the paper.)
Teacher: Now, the sounds in the rest of the word “saw” are hard, but where could we look to find it?
Jenifer: Look on the other paper.
(Teacher and students look at the previous journal to find the word “saw,” then the teacher demonstrates copying
the rest of the word. The teacher then calls another student to write the number 3, and assists the students in
stretching out the word “dogs” to hear and write the letters for all four sounds.)
Teacher: Are we finished?
132
Class: Yes!
Teacher: So, what do we need at the end?
Class: A period!
Teacher: Vanessa, would you like to put the period and draw the three dogs for us so we can remember what we
wrote? Then we will read it one more time.
As you can see from the above description, in the interactive writing model, the teacher’s role is to:
 Introduce the lesson by modeling how to begin writing
 Plan the text and help students generate ideas for writing
 Record students’ ideas, reinforcing print conventions such as capitalization, punctuation, and
print directionality
 Reinforce students’ phonemic awareness through writing
 Make connections of unknown to known words, such as students’ names
 Ask students to participate in the writing at strategic points by asking individuals to write
known letters, words, pieces of punctuation, or phrases
 Move your students to independence by requiring them to accept more and more
responsibility in this process
 Involve your students in repeatedly reading the products they have created during interactive
writing sessions
As the students provide writing ideas in something like an apprentice role, they are actively engaging in the
writing process, contributing known letters or words at the frontier of their knowledge. The teacher should
be sure to read and reread the ultimate composition, reviewing the skills that have been highlighted in that
process.
As you might imagine, this method is useful for whole class, small group, and individual instruction. Many
Kindergarten and first grade teachers make interactive writing a part of their daily routine.
To summarize, the keys to effective interactive, shared, and modeled writing are that the teacher:
 Demonstrate the writing in a way that is large enough that all students in the class or small
group can access it and be involved
 Think aloud constantly about what is being written
 Remind students to use the skills and strategies that you model when they write independently
 Involve ALL students (There is a risk with this model that one student will be participating
while all others are off task.)
Guided Writing—students create and write in small groups while the teacher guides the process
In Guided Writing, the teacher works with the whole class or a small group of students who have similar needs
and coaches them as they write a composition. Here, the students take on the actual drafting responsibilities
as the teacher presents a structured lesson that guides the students through the writing process. The teacher
closely supervises the students, an element that makes this model most appropriate for small groups. Guided
writing gives each student the opportunity to produce his or her own writing, with a bit of teacher support. This
approach is often used to teach a specific writing procedure, strategy, or skill.
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Methods of Writing Instruction
In this approach, the role of the teacher is to:
 Observe and assess students’ writing
 Meet with individuals or small groups who have similar needs
 Actively prompt, coach, and guide individual students’ writing skills
 Respond as a reader
 Ask open-ended questions
 Extend students’ thinking in the process of composing
 Foster writing independence
Independent Writing—students create and write while the teacher confers and monitors progress
The student is in charge of the drafting under an independent writing model. Students use the writing
process to write sentences, paragraphs, stories, or essays. The teacher monitors students’ progress and
intervenes appropriately. This model can be implemented in any number of ways, including writing
centers, writing workshops, journal writing, and letter writing.
Do not misinterpret the name of this approach as implying that the teacher is not involved. The teacher
continues to be involved—by creating opportunities to engage in authentic, purposeful writing, by
responding to the content of students’ writing, and by assisting students with the revision and editing
process. The student’s role does grow under this model, as he or she takes a larger ownership of both
the process and the product. The student might select topics and content, or even genre in some cases.
Eventually, the student should be responsible for his or her own revision and editing, as well.
Review of Part II
Method
Modeled
Writing
Summary
Teacher creates,
writes, and thinks
aloud.



Shared
Writing
Interactive
Writing
Teacher and
students co-create;
teacher writes and
thinks aloud.
Teacher and
students co-create
and co-write.






Guided
Writing
Independent
Writing
134
Students create
and write while
teacher closely
monitors and
guides process.

Students create
and write while
teacher monitors
progress.






Tips and Suggestions
Think aloud constantly, explaining the strategies you use.
Use expressive language and actions to describe exactly what you’re
doing.
Use modeled writing as a mini-lesson to introduce new writing skills
and genres.
Have your students watch as you transform their thoughts into written
words.
Contribute ideas to the writing, but help students generate ideas
themselves.
Talk, think aloud, and involve your students while one or more write.
Have a two-way conversation around the creation of words, sentences, or
paragraphs.
Move your students to independence by not doing what they can do for
themselves.
Demonstrate the writing in a way that is large enough that all students in
the class can access it and be involved.
Work with the whole class or a small group of students who have
similar needs as they write a composition.
Observe and assess your students’ writing, actively coaching their
skills.
Ask open-ended questions to extend your students’ thinking in the
process.
Intervene with the writing process only when appropriate.
Continue to be involved, but let the students’ role grow.
Respond to the content of your students’ writing.
Assist students with the revision and editing process.
III. The Writing Process: Pre-Writing, Drafting, Revising, Editing, and Publishing
The final way that we can think about the task of writing instruction is by considering how you might
approach instructing students to create a particular written product. The most effective approach to
writing any particular text, be it a paragraph, letter, essay, short story, or research project, requires the
writer to break the process into five steps:
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
Pre-writing
Drafting
Revising
Proofreading and Editing
Publishing and Presentation
As a strong literacy instructor, you will be teaching
students both how to implement strategies for each
of these steps, and the sequence of these steps
themselves. That is, you want your students to
associate the concept of writing with this complete
process. It should be second nature to your students
that there is a meaningful pre-writing stage of any
writing project, and that there is a crucial revising
stage to any writing project. At the same time, your
students should have command of a range of
strategies to use within each stage of the process. In
this section, we will consider various strategies that
you will teach your students to help them at each
stage of the writing process.
At the beginning of the year, I read Amelia’s
Notebook (a story of a young girl who keeps her own
journal) as a way of motivating my students to write.
They then decorate their own notebooks that they will
use all year. Inside these notebooks we complete our
pre-writing steps for each project (our lists of seed
ideas, quick writes, wonderings, etc.). We also have
writing folders that hold work from each stage of the
process (drafts, revisions, and final drafts) for each
individual project.
Shannen Coleman, Baltimore ‘03
Academic Director, Child First Authority/BUILD
Note that our focus in this chapter will be on writing both as a process and a product. Traditionally,
classroom writing instruction has focused on writing products (sentences, paragraphs, essays, research
papers, etc.), with little regard for process. For example, students might be expected to write an essay
based only on their review of models of an essay. In the last two decades, however, we have seen
significant changes in the way schools approach writing instruction. The most effective approach involves
more attention to instructional activities that lead students to think through and organize their thoughts
before writing and to re-think and revise their initial drafts.165 So, while today we still emphasize the
importance of the final product, we recognize that we must also focus on the process itself, expressly
teaching students the steps that go into writing. These trends have led to our focus on the five-step
writing process of pre-writing, drafting, revising, editing and publishing.
Pre-Writing
Pre-writing is arguably the most consequential step in the writing process, and it’s importance is often
overlooked by teachers and students. Many elementary students think that “writing” a story or paper
means sitting down and creating something that will not be altered. While it takes somewhat different
forms depending on grade and developmental levels, pre-writing is both a discovery stage, when content
and ideas are being collected and organized, and a rehearsal stage, when writers are mentally, verbally,
and on paper “trying out” different topics about which they might write. Among the many forms that prewriting can take are:
165
Smith, Carl. “Writing Instruction: Changing Views over the Years,” ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading, English, and
Communication Digest, #155.
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Methods of Writing Instruction

Generating Words and Ideas Exercises. Motivate students to start thinking about words and
the subject that will be written about, such as:
- Brainstorming
- Listing
- Observing/taking notes
- Reading and conducting research/taking notes
- Free writing
- Sentence frames (My favorite place is…)

Organization. All students need to be taught how to organize their ideas before they write a
first draft. Graphic organizers and outlines are excellent tools for pre-writing, as they force
students to think about connections and relationships between ideas. You can teach students
to create a plan before they write, either by using a teacher-created organizer or a studentcreated outline. For some examples of graphic organizers, see the Instructional Planning &
Delivery text.

Previewing Grammar and Mechanics. Previewing a specific grammar skill that you want
students to use in their writing will give them an immediate understanding of your
expectations, as well as the necessary time to practice the skill in isolation. For example, if
your students are about to write a narrative with dialogue, you could take that opportunity to
teach a mini-lesson on the use of quotation marks.

Teaching Characteristics of Particular
Forms/Genres. A critical stage in the prewriting process is instruction in the genre of
writing students will be producing. As you
can imagine, you cannot expect students to
write a persuasive letter, a personal
narrative, or an expository article with any
success if they do not know the
characteristics of a piece of writing in that
genre and have not read or examined
exemplary models. Just as when you are
teaching any other skill, when teaching the
skill of writing in a particular genre, explain
the characteristics of the genre, look at
several exemplary models to identify those
characteristics, model the creation of a
piece in the genre, and then have students
apply the characteristics of the genre as
they draft their own piece.
KWL Chart
A useful tool to help students pre-write an
informational piece is the “KWL Plus Chart.” As
you know from our previous discussions of this
model, “KWL” stands for “know, want to know,
learn.” Before beginning a project, students can
record what they know about the topic and what
they want to know. As they research, they write
what they’ve learned. The “plus” feature allows
students to sort all that they know about the topic
into categories. Though students need a different
structure (an outline, perhaps) to help them
organize this information, KWL charts help them
take notes as they research. For a sample KWL
chart, see the Elementary Literacy Toolkit (p. 52)
found online at the Resource Exchange on
TFANet. 
For an example of student work in the pre-writing stage, see the Elementary Literacy Toolkit (pp. 53-54:
“Sample Student Work: Pre-Writing”); this Toolkit can be found online at the Resource Exchange on
TFANet. 
136
Drafting
Once students know the characteristics of the genre and
have collected and organized their ideas, they are ready
to work in the second stage of writing. Drafting refers to
the time when the student is actually crafting language
and translating an outline or plan into a more coherent
piece. Part of your role as a teacher of literacy will be to
disabuse your students of the idea that drafting is
writing. Rather, drafting is one step in the writing
process. The first draft is usually done relatively quickly
to get ideas on paper. In fact, research indicates that
writers who try to make the first draft “perfect” run the
risk of missing opportunities to discover ideas that could
be surfacing during the drafting process.166
Young writers need quiet and focused atmospheres that
will be conducive to drafting. Create routines that get
all distractions (sharpening pencils, gathering
materials, etc.) out of the way before writing time
begins. Many teachers, for example, use a routine
called Writers’ Workshop when students are working in
the stages of the writing process and the teacher is
having writing conferences with individual students
about their progress. For an example of student work in
the drafting stage, see “Sample Student Work: Drafting”
in the online Elementary Literacy Toolkit (pp. 55-56). 
How Do I Choose (and Help Students Choose)
Topics for Writing?
One of your goals is to help students learn to write
for a variety of purposes and in a variety of forms.
For example, students can write personal
narratives, short stories, poetry, persuasive
letters or essays, step-by-step directions, or
informational pamphlets and reports. When you
are choosing topics for students to write about,
consider the following guidelines:

Start with topics that are familiar and
manageable for the students you are
teaching. First graders will be able to write
step-by-step directions for cooking a
Thanksgiving turkey (though they may be less
than accurate!) but will not have the requisite
knowledge and skills to write an expository
essay explaining the origins of common
holiday traditions.

Teach students to write the types of genres
that they are reading. Kindergarteners who
are reading and listening to classroom rules
can “write” and illustrate rules for the
cafeteria. Third graders engaged in a study of
nonfiction can write an expository article for a
class magazine (perhaps relating to a science
unit). Fifth graders who are reading and
listening to memoirs can create personal
narratives.

Provide opportunities for choice, in order to
build ownership and motivate students. If you
have decided that your third graders will
create a magazine that gives other students
information about Earth/Space science, allow
them to choose a topic on which to write their
particular article (erosion, fossils, or
continental and oceanic features).
Revising
Revising refers to those substantive changes that are
made after the rough draft. Primarily, this stage
considers the effectiveness of a piece, both in terms of
content and language. Revision does not focus on
mechanics, a task that makes up the editing and
proofreading stage. To help young students understand
the difference, you might explain that writers focus on
how their piece sounds during the revising stage and
how it looks during editing. While this description is not
perfect, it is often a helpful distinction for beginning writers.
Possible foci during the revision stage of writing are the ideas and content, the organization and “flow,”
and the language choices made in the piece. Of course, the extent to which students revise a written
piece depends partially on their developmental level. For example, while you might teach first graders
simply to delete ideas that are off topic, you will probably expect upper elementary students to revise
more extensively, perhaps by adding descriptive language, clarifying sections that are unclear, including
transition words and sentences, or changing the order in which ideas are presented.
Botel, M. and Susan Lytle. Pennsylvania Comprehensive Reading/Communication Arts Plan II. Harrisburg, PA:
Pennsylvania Department of Education – Communications Division, 1998.
166
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Methods of Writing Instruction
Elementary students find revising to be a particularly
challenging step in the writing process. As with instruction
in all stages, you should deliver a whole-group mini-lesson
on a revision topic, and then model revising your own piece
for your students. You might consider one of the following
sample topics, depending on the skills that your students
need to develop:











Varying sentence structure
Elaborating on ideas
Creating strong topic sentences
Consistency of voice, character, or style
Organization of ideas
Improving introductions/story beginnings
Adding sensory details
Including time and transition words
Using dialogue
Choosing strong action verbs
Crafting conclusions/story endings
When students have a conference with me
during the revising and editing stages, it’s sort
of a “DMV” system: a student takes a
clothespin with a number on it and goes back
to his or her desk to continue working on his
or her story, or he or she can start a new
story. I call a number, and whoever has that
number gets to come to the back table with
their story, and I can help him or her revise
and edit it. This really cuts down on
congestion around my table!
Brooke McCaffrey, Phoenix ‘02
Kindergarten Teacher,
Prospect Hills Academy Charter School
Additionally, students need varying amounts of feedback from you and their peers as they attempt to revise
their first drafts. Teachers of Kindergarten through third graders, as well as fourth and fifth teachers whose
students are just beginning to use the writing process, need to provide a good deal of structure during the
revision process. One way that you might provide structure is by literally “cutting and pasting” students’ first
drafts (mimicking the word processing function on a computer), opening up space for students to add
details or helping them to rearrange the order in which they express their ideas.
Proofreading and Editing
During the proofreading and editing phase, the student-author does the nitty-gritty check on the mechanics
of the writing, watching carefully for details such as punctuation, spelling, and grammar. These editing
skills must be taught to even our youngest students. Children should leave your room not only
commanding age-appropriate proofreading and editing skills, but believing that this stage is an integral part
of writing that cannot be skipped.
Teaching this part of the writing process can be accomplished through presenting mini-lessons on
capitalization, punctuation, etc. and through providing a checklist of language mechanics expectations for the
text. It is also taught through teachers’ modeling during modeled writing, shared writing, or interactive
writing. See “Age-Appropriate Proofreading Checklists”
in the Elementary Literacy Toolkit (p. 57) found online
Checklists are an excellent way of making your
at the Resource Exchange on TFANet. A table of
expectations clear and helping your students revise
“Proofreading Marks” that shows the grades in which
and edit their work. I make a checklist for each writing
piece that we complete, and give it to the students
various proofreading marks are first used is also
during the revision part of the process. As they revise
provided in the Toolkit (p. 58). 
and edit, they can refer back to what I am looking for
(which I’ve taught in mini-lessons). When I grade the
assignment, I fill in the checklist and calculate the
grade based on how many checks the child receives).
Jessica Wells Cantiello, New York ‘03
PhD Candidate, The Graduate Center of the City
University of New York (CUNY)
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Publication and Presentation
This stage brings closure to the writing process by
allowing students to share their best work with others,
whether that sharing takes the form of a book that is
sold at local bookstores or an oral presentation about
a written project to the class. Many teachers report
that the possibility of publication, in its many forms, has a significant impact on a students’ motivation to
write and also focuses students’ energy on revising and editing.
There are obviously many ways to publish students’ writing. To spark your own thoughts, consider the
following methods:





read writing aloud
submit to a contest
create a class anthology
record on a cassette tape
send it to a pen pal





submit it to a magazine
read it at an assembly
share in a reading party
share with family
hold an “author’s tea”




display on bulletin board
make a hard-bound book
make a big book
share with younger students
The Elementary Literacy Toolkit (available online at the Resource Exchange on TFANet) contains directions
for making bound books (p. 59: “Binding Books for the Classroom”) and also an example of student work
in the publishing stage (pp. 60-63: “Sample Student Work: Publishing”). 
Review of Part III
Thus, when we think carefully about the writing process itself—pre-writing, drafting, revising, editing, and
publishing—we uncover a whole menu of activities and strategies that will help us improve our students’
literacy skills. During pre-writing, for example, we can teach vocabulary and organizational techniques.
During the editing process, we can focus students’ attention on particular grammar skills. Combined
with the various contexts for teaching writing that span the continuum of teacher-directedness, these
strategies create powerful tools for literacy instruction.
Stage
Pre-Writing
Review
Teacher leads children to
generate and organize
content and ideas before
beginning to write.





Drafting
Student crafts the
language.


Revising
Proofreading
and Editing
Publishing and
Presentation
Student (often with
teacher’s guidance)
makes substantive
changes to draft, including
fixing content and style.
Student checks the
mechanics of the writing,
watching carefully for
punctuation, spelling and
other mechanics.
Allow students to share
their best work with
others in various ways.





Tips and Suggestions
Ask students to free write in a notebook to spur ideas.
Teach students to read and take notes.
Enable students to organize ideas through the use of graphic
organizers.
Use exemplary models to teach characteristics of the genre.
Preview a grammar skill to make students comfortable with
using it in their writing.
Teach your students that drafting is not writing, just one step
of the writing process.
Provide a quiet and focused atmosphere with set routines and
procedures.
Note: this step does not focus on mechanics; that will be
addressed in the next stage.
Encourage students to improve their word choice, change the
organization of ideas, or ensure sufficient evidence is provided
to support a claim.
Teach these editing skills, even to very young children.
Present mini-lessons on capitalization, punctuation, etc.
Provide a checklist of language mechanics expectations to
your students during this stage.
A few ways to “publish” your students’ writing:

Read the writing aloud.

Invite others to hear student-authors read their published
work.

Submit the piece to a contest or magazine.

Make a book.
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Methods of Writing Instruction
Conclusion
This chapter has focused on methods of writing instruction:

In Part I, we considered some of the basic building blocks of writing that we know form a critically
important foundation for literacy development.

In Part II, we considered the various teacher- and student-centered modes of writing, including
techniques such as Shared Writing and Interactive Writing.

Finally, in Part III, we considered the various stages of the writing process that students use to create
their own written products. As you read, each stage of the writing process—pre-writing, drafting,
revising, editing, and publishing—offers a range of educational opportunities for teachers and
students.
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